Path Of The Assassin, Vol. 6 (v. 6) [Paperback]

Kazuo Koike (Author), Goseki Kojima (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 8, 2007

If Art of War tactics and ninjitsu arts pique your interest, Path of the Assassin is the quasi historical samurai manga you've been waiting for! From the legendary comics creators Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima, of Lone Wolf and Cub fame comes the story of Japan's greatest shogun and his rise to power through the battles and intrigues of his late teens. Central to the story is a young ninja who must go to great lengths in order to secure victory for the boy who would become the shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu. Based loosely on fabled tales of the age, Path of the Assassin is an exciting and sexy series.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Ieyasu, who will found the Tokugawa Shogunate, is awaiting the return of his personal ninja, Hanzo, who exiled himself after offending, albeit unavoidably, Ieyasu's wife, when he makes a could-be-disastrous mistake by attempting to collect rice from Buddhist-monk vassals belonging to a sect that spurns feudal obligations. He provokes an uprising that may be taken advantage of by his rivals. Even before returning, Hanzo learns of the situation and, with his ninja wife, begins the tense series of subterfuges and impersonations that fills the seventh volume of Koike and Kojima's masterful, gorgeous historical manga, several passages of which are so involving that they're virtually audible. Olson, Ray

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Dark Horse (May 8, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1593075073
• ISBN-13: 978-1593075071
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 4.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #567,444 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ieyasu comes to the greatest difficulty of his life, May 21, 2007

By 

Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Path Of The Assassin, Vol. 6 (v. 6) (Paperback)

"Path of the Assassin, Volume 6: Life's Greatest Difficulty" consists mostly of the single epic story that gives the volume its title. Things are going well for Ieyasu, who it should be remembered is only 22-years-old at this point in his journey towards becoming Shogun and only now beginning to mull over taking the name Tokugawa. Meanwhile, Hatori Hanzo and Tsukumo have been away from their master, battling the ninja Kite Kato. Then Ieyasu comes to the event that he would speak of later as being the greatst difficulty of his life. Ieyasu had a fort built in Sasaki by Yahgi River, and now that it is completed he sets out to get some rice to stockpile at the fort, unaware that this simple act will stir up insurrections all over Mikawa, threatening not only his power but also his very life.

This classic samurai series from writer Kazuo Koike and artist Goecki Kojima, originally published in Japan under the title "Hanzo no Mon," is being published in 15 volumes by Dark Horse. Because of its focus on Ieyasu and Hanzo, this magna is more historical in nature than either "Lone Wolf & Cub" or "Samurai Executioner." At this point we are in the early 1560s, as Ieyasu battles the military forces of the Mikawa Monto, a group of warrior monks, who refused to obey his orders. Again the relationship between master and servant is defined as the difference between strategy and tactics: as the insurrections begin, Ieyasu sees the big picture, and knows it is up to Hanzo to do something to make the clogged river flow again (Remember, the magna is described as being about "Lifelong friends, with the same dreams, striving to grow into a rising river"). But this time, when the stakes are the highest they have been so far, Hanzo finds his efforts backfiring. In addition to the main plotline, Iyesau's wife sends her husband a strange message and Hanzo meets up again with Toma Eno, another suppa, who makes a strange request. Both of these sequences remind us that this story is far from over, although since Iyesau was 60 when he was named Shogun by the Emperor, I have to assume this magna will end decades short of that pivotal moment in Japanese history.

The second story here, "Changing Countenance," either constitutes an epilogue to this "Chapter on Shogyo Mujo," or is an interlude before the next story. It is not until Path of the Assassin Volume 7, Center of the World comes out in a couple of months that we will learn if the chapter continues or if Koike and Kojima are beginning the next one. A young girl wants to plead upon her death for Ieyasu to come and visit her dying father, a nameless, small "ashigaru" (foot solider of medieval Japan), who has a lesson to teach his master regarding the truth that can be read in the faces of men. The title comes from a series of masks the dying man has carved, to illustrate his point. Whether this presages specific events to come or is just a philosophical point raised in general, remains to be seen.

This pocket-sized magna format is oriented in the right-to-left reading format used by the creators, and you should have no problem with this approach by the time you are this far into the series. However, I wish I knew more about how these stories were originally published in Japan. A 282 page story in an American comic is going to run pretty much for a year divided into issues containing the same number of pages, unless it is published as a graphic novel. But "Life's Greatest Difficulty" is presented as just one giant story, even though there are clearly "episodes" within the framework of the larger narrative. When a particular "chapter" is broken into two parts in these Dark Horse volumes, ending one volume and beginning the next, I have assumed that these were artificial breaks, but I really do not know. Dark Horse could just be following what Koike and Kojima did for all I know. I am not complaining, because without the strictures of usual comic books, each of these stories is as long as Koike and Kojima need them to be, a fact amply demonstrated by the two stories in this particular volume.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great series by Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima!, October 6, 2007

By 

Ronin T. "RoninDH" (New Orleans, LA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Path Of The Assassin, Vol. 6 (v. 6) (Paperback)

I've been a long time collecter or almost everything that Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima have done, even some books and novels that were never released in the USA or translated into English. Their creative story lines and tradtional style of graphics are just outstanding!

3.0 out of 5 stars Good but complicated, July 13, 2009

By 

Timoleon Kiritsis (Athens, Greece) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Path Of The Assassin, Vol. 6 (v. 6) (Paperback)

Like the other two series "Lone Wolf and Cub" and "Samurai Executioner", "Path of the Assasin" is a very pleasant book for one to read. But unlike the other two series, there is a focus on the geopolitical events of that era in japan and much less battles. Also it is almost impossible to remember all the different names and charactes that take part on the plot.